Ben Howard had total control of the British male singer songwriter spotlight twelve months ago. He swept up at the Brits and toured the globe off the back of his Mercury nominated debut LP ‘Every Kingdom’, and then…

silence.

We have said it before, but we will say it time and time again, we love it when artists reveal what they have been working on, lap up the plaudits, hit the road and then vanish, only returning when they are ready with an even better follow-up than their previous outing. Even though ‘Every Kingdom’ was a stunning record, there were grumblings at last years Brits that the nominees for the big awards (Best male, Best Female etc) were about as uninspiring as they had ever been. Not that Ben Howard was complaining; he rode in, swept up and then returned to the studio to reaffirm his worth.

In timely fashion, the Totnes native has marked his return to the game with brand new single ‘End Of The Affair’, the first from his forthcoming (currently untitled) sophomore release. We are waiting more details on the actual release, but rest assured we are sure it will not disappoint.

First things first, ‘End Of The Affair' clocks in at nearly eight minutes which is clearly quite a departure from what Ben Howard diehards are used to. The track starts as a classic indie-folk ballad but swiftly descends into something far more progressive. The end licks remind us of Fleetwood Mac at their best, however, Howard’s referencing The National and Talk Talk as inspiration are certainly prominent throughout.

To cut a long story short, the track is incredibly beautiful. The track title doesn’t lie; this is a truly heartbroken affair. Poor old Benny Boy.

Ben Howard has lined up a few shows this Summer, all of which sold out in minutes, but fear not, we are certain an album tour will follow swiftly after release dates and titles are revealed in the not-so-distant-future.